News

Background

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) supports Christian witness and service in the Czech Republic through partner churches and organizations and through our mission personnel, who work closely with these partners. The Czech Working Group is strengthening partnership relations through dialogue.

Moving beyond a long period in which religion has been a source of controversy and enmity, our Czech partners feel a need to move toward grace and healing. They face subtle, challenging circumstances. As a former Communist country seeking membership in the European Union, the Czech Republic is moving toward a market economy and western European structures. The members of our partner churches are recovering from the effect of 50 years of Communism on their sense of mission, leadership and lay involvement and on their search to foster and renew international and ecumenical cooperation. They also need our assistance and solidarity in dealing with rapid changes in education, health care, environmental issues and social equality. They must find new places in society in their relationships to government and politics.

There is a numerically significant minority of Roma (Gypsies) in the Czech Republic. The PC(USA) urges our partners to serve as a bridge between the Roma and the majority population. We encourage the Czechs to share the lessons of faith they have learned as they persevered through five decades of Communism.

Czech Republic Partner Churches and Organizations

Evangelical Church of Czech BrethrenEcumenical Council of Churches in the Czech Republic

The PC(USA) also relates to the Conference of European Churches (CEC), a regional ecumenical organization. The movement that led to the creation of the CEC dates back to the period of the Cold War, when a group of church leaders brought into conversation churches in European countries separated by different political, economic and social systems. CEC has sought to build bridges not only between Eastern and Western Europe but also been between minority and majority churches and between Christians of different confessional traditions.

The Czech Republic Mission Network is among more than 40 networks that connect Presbyterians who share a common mission interest. Most participants are involved in mission partnerships through congregations, presbyteries or synods. Network members come together to coordinate efforts, share best practices and develop strategies.